Reawakening Through the Power of Music

About a year ago, I stumbled upon a clip from a documentary film called ““>Dr. Oliver Sacks, also got involved with the project. They all worked together to investigate the mysterious way music functions inside our brains and our lives.

The clip was about a man Henry, who has been in the nursing home for about 10 years, and as Dr. Sacks said, he is inert, maybe depressed, unresponsive and almost unalive, and can’t remember his daughter who frequently visits him. When given an iPod containing his favorite music, Henry immediately lights up. His face exudes expression, his eyes open wide, he starts to sing, and rock in his wheelchair and is animated by the music. When the music was removed from his ears, the affects were lasting. Henry continued to beam, as he talked about his past, and began singing songs by his favorite musician, Cab Calloway. The music helped Henry to remember who he is and reawaken him.